My dad's girlfriend was Darlene Ballweg from Ballweg Chevrolet. You know the lady in the commercials that say "Nobody has better deals Madison".

She graduated with my mom at Lodi High School.

Darlene's mom hated my dad though so her mom sent her to Europe for a year to get a way from him.

My mom's mom hated my dad too. She said he was trouble.

My father was a big jock. He was also very hot and still looks pretty good. When I was in my teens my gay friends all wanted to do him. I am very good in sports believe it or not. I can hit a ball like crazy. Any ball, baseball, golf, tennis. I was also the best bowler in jr. league in Waunakee.

My father's parents lived in a run down shack and had a 200 acre farm. To look at them you would think they did not have a pot to piss in. When they both died that had over 5 million dollars which they left to their children.

It's 57 degrees here and raining. It looks like this front extends from South Alabama all the way up to New York State. Today, day 8, the cold is better. Two long weekends in a row have been ruined by this crud.

"Ann, your composition seems a little off. I appreciate selective focus, but your iPhone seems to be hogging the frame in a way that threatens to obscure the young woman in the upper right hand corner."

"There are tits in the background."

"There are tits in the background."

"Yes, pendulous breasts alert! May we know what page you're viewing in the background of this photo?"

The hat is mine. I bought it 20 years ago. Just got it out to wear when working on photographs on the computer to keep the light from the window out of my eyes.

I had a hat like that in the 1970s, but it was a better hat. Wish I still had that hat. I do have another fedora, in black, and that one is a quality fedora. It's this kind. That's what you want if you want to wear a fedora. It's really beautiful and soft. Mine is a man's size XL. I need XL because of my brain.

I was up tremendously late last night waiting for my son to come home, and woke up in that tired state where you don't even open your eyes for some time. When I finally swung out of bed for a trip to the loo I glanced at my clock and smiled when it read 11:11. I went back to bed and played on my iPad for a time, read on the Kindle app for a while and generally lazed about in iPad land. When I got up for good I threw another glance at my alarm clock and it read 1:11. This time I laughed out loud. Simply has to portend something good for this year, right?

The hat is mine. I bought it 20 years ago. Just got it out to wear when working on photographs on the computer to keep the light from the window out of my eyes.

I had a hat like that in the 1970s, but it was a better hat. Wish I still had that hat. I do have another fedora, in black, and that one is a quality fedora. It's this kind. That's what you want if you want to wear a fedora. It's really beautiful and soft. Mine is a man's size XL. I need XL because of my brain.

Then we must have a photo of you in it. My dad only wore Stetsons, the idea of something Italian would have appalled him.

If you need a man's XL, though, I'd expect your head to be the size of one of those villains in the Wild, Wild West.

"My dad only wore Stetsons, the idea of something Italian would have appalled him."

You have to experience the softness of the Borsalino hat. It makes other hats seem like costume hats.

The original Stetsons were intended to hold up to rough weather, so they were a bit tougher. I think it always remained their big selling point.

Don't forget, the original marketing for the Stetson was, "The Boss of the Plains". Only the man that owned the spread could afford one initially, but the hands liked the way it wore and saved up to buy them, as well.

The thing about the photo in the upper right-hand corner is that Althouse's overall composition ends up like a Drudgtaposition, with the two vertical breasts neatly paralleling the two 1's on the iPad screen -- then the eye catches the two vertical arms amd the two vertical legs -- such that the composition screams "11" everywhere on 1-1-11.